Team USA swimmers Ryan Lochte, left, and Missy Franklin show off the new Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer suits. (Photos provided by Speedo)

Speedo unveiled its swimsuits that will be worn by Missy Franklin and the other members of Team USA at the Olympics in Rio this summer.

The Fastskin LZR Racer X and Fastskin LZR Racer 2 swimsuits are customized for each Speedo-sponsored country. Team USA’s suits feature the red, white and blue of the flag, as well as stars and a gold stripe.

The customized suits will also be worn by teams from Australia, China, Spain, Japan, Canada and Israel.

Missy Franklin was named one of the most marketable athletes in the world by Sports Pro. (Harry How, Getty Images)

Missy Franklin has yet to swim in her first race or sign her first endorsement deal as a professional, but she’ll clearly have no problem recouping the millions she gave up to attend college.

The Regis Jesuit graduate and four-time Olympic swimming champion was jumped four spots to No. 4 on SportsPro’s annual list of the 50 most marketable athletes in the world. She is the only swimmer and the highest-ranked Olympian on the 2015 list, which is weighted toward an athlete’s marketability over the next three years.

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — It’s been a little warm here, 30 miles from the Black Sea. One journalist covered the nordic combined event Wednesday wearing shorts. I was out there with a long-sleeved shirt and a hoodie — and felt over-dressed.

It’s been very comfortable for spectators, but course workers have been putting salt on melting courses to make them harder. Steamboat’s Taylor Fletcher got his first look at the nordic combined cross country course Wednesday and he didn’t like what he found.

“There’s a section that’s brown,” Fletcher said. “I don’t know if it’s snow or mud. If they keep salting it, it’s going to be nasty. I don’t know if they have thought about it. That’s their job. I can’t think about it too much, but I think it needs to firm up and stay there.”

SOCHI, Russia — Twin brothers Michel and Ronald Mulder once shared a womb, they still share a face and now they both share the distinction of being Olympic speed skating medalists.

Along with teammate Jan Smeekens, the brothers led the Netherlands to a clean sweep of the men’s 500-meter speedskating finals in front of a capacity crowd at Sochi’s Adler Arena.

With just one race to go and both brothers in position to medal after their respective runs, Smeekens — the leader after one round of racing — finished in 34.72 seconds, for a total time between both runs of 69.32 seconds, just .01 behind Michel’s gold medal-winning combined time of 69.31.

After crossing the line, Smeekens — knowing he had gold to lose — looked toward the scoreboard. When the trio of racers realized they had swept, the celebration began.

Michel immediately placed a hand over his heart, then let out a primal scream before rushing to his training partner and fellow competitor Daniel Greig of Australia. The two athletes wrapped their arms tightly around one another for a long and emotional embrace as tears welled in their eyes.

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — Julia Mancuso first demonstrated her uncanny knack for coming through in big events at the 2005 world championships, when she and teammate Lindsey Vonn were just 20 years old.

Vonn already had a World Cup win and seven podiums. Mancuso, a rival since they were kids coming up through the junior ranks, had none. But at those championships in Bormio, Italy, Mancuso claimed bronze medals in giant slalom and super-G. Vonn had to settle for two fourth-place finishes.

A year later in the Turin Olympics, Mancuso won a gold medal in giant slalom and Vonn went home empty handed. Since then Mancuso has claimed three more world championships medals, and on Monday she won her fourth Olympic medal, a bronze in super combined. No other American woman has won more than two.

Ted Ligety won Friday’s super combined race in Wengen, Switzerland — his 20th World Cup victory and first in an event other than giant slalom — a result that bodes well for his chances to win multiple medals at the Sochi Olympics, now only 20 days away.

Ligety was already considered a medal contender in combined (along with giant slalom and super-G), but Friday’s victory at one of the “classic” stops of the World Cup tour underscored that status.

Grete Eliassen of the United States skis to third place in the women’s FIS Slopestyle Ski World Cup at the U.S. Snowboarding and Freeskiing Grand Prix on December 21, 2013 in Copper Mountain, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Bad weather is dangerous for men and women slopestyle skiers and snowboarders. But the lighter women, who fight to maintain essential speed to clear big jumps, are especially at risk on courses with only one take-off jump. Those single lips are big, designed mostly to hurl speedy men into the sky so they can spin as many as four times while flipping two or three times.

“Nothing represents Americana more than handcrafted patchwork quilts and the American flag.”

Burton women’s Olympic Competition jacket

That’s from Burton, which unveiled the 2014 U.S. Snowboarding Team uniforms on Wednesday. The Vermont-based company – which pretty much owns snowboarding, with a majority share of all snowboard, binding and apparel sales – has outfitted Olympic snowboarders in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. For 2014, Burton went old-school. As in handcrafted, quilting old-school.

Burton designers drew their jacket inspiration from a vintage quilt they discovered at an antique fair. A “veteran Vermont quilt maker” refined the design and it was replicated using high-end fabrics, Burton’s own waterproofing laminate and a breathable membrane.

The hand-stitched look, coupled with waterproofed corduroy pants “give the uniform a ‘heirloom hippy’ vibe that lines up with snowboarding’s laid-back culture while paying respect to America’s longstanding creative heritage,” said Greg Dacyshyn, Chief Creative Officer at Burton Snowboards, in a statement. “It will stand out in Sochi for sure.”

Shaun White’s sponsor GoPro has sculpted a private halfpipe in Australia for the snowboarder as he trains for the Sochi Winter Olympics. Photo courtesy to The Denver Post by GoPro

It worked last time.

Shaun White, the perennial king of snowboard halfpipe, has again enlisted his sponsor GoPro to sculpt a private halfpipe in Australia as the 27-year-old aims for this third Olympic pipe gold in the Sochi Winter Games next February.

“GoPro worked with Snow Park Technologies to build a custom halfpipe and slopestyle features for Shaun’s Olympic training. GoPro and SPT scouted many locations across the globe, the spot in Australia was chosen based upon conditions and timing,” said GoPro spokeswoman Katie Kilbride.

California’s Snow Park Technologies is the same outfit that builds the 22-foot X Games superpipe at Aspen’s Buttermilk ski area, where the greatest competitive snowboarder has won a record six consecutive gold medals.

Park City, Utah — New sports for the 2014 Sochi Olympics include slopestyle skiing and snowboarding and halfpipe skiing. Freesking icon Tom Wallisch spoke for many slopestyle skiers at the Olympic Media Summit Tuesday when he said he can hardly believe his sport will be part of the Olympics next February.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said Wallisch, who is from Pittsburgh. “None of us ever grew up dreaming of going to the Olympics. The X Games and going out skiing with your friends was kind of all you could ever accomplish. It wasn’t like a world-famous sport. It’s always been more of a hobby. I got my start making videos of doing this kind of skiing, out in the cities and in the backcountry, in the park, putting out those videos and getting known for that. To go from being a kid, weekend warrior, skiing two days a week on the East Coast to being able to say, ‘Our sport’s going to be in the Olympics,’ to legitimize it like that, it’s amazing. It’s a crazy turn of events, something I never would have dreamed of. None of us every had that dream. I feel like it’s blowing my mind every day that we’re going to have a chance like this.”

Meyer will be covering his 12th Olympic Games in Rio this summer. He has covered five World Alpine Ski Championships and more than 100 World Cup ski events. He is a member of the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame.

Jason Blevins covers tourism, mountain business, skiing and outdoor adventure sports for both the business and sports sections at The Denver Post, which he joined in 1997. He skis, pedals, paddles and occasionally boogies in the hills.

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About All Things Olympics

The All Things Olympics blog from The Denver Post covers the athletes, events and stories of the Olympic Games and Olympic sports, including the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia. Its writers — John Meyer, Jason Blevins and Mark Kiszla — will feature profiles, articles, analysis and personal reflection.